Category:Tails and Tribulations

From Create Your Own Story

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to real people, my life, pets, or galactic alien empires is entirely coincidental.

Please be aware that this is currently a work in progress, and may be slow to update. I do accept ideas and contributions, but reserve the right to modify those that are done if I do not feel that it fits with the story.

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Many thousands of years ago, on the planet Junta in the system called Wolf 359, many stands of life evolved from a common ancestor. These life-forms spread out across the planet's lush, green landmasses and began building into tribal societies. Some gathered in the many rainforests that, thanks to the thick atmosphere, were humid environments that teemed with insects and animals. Others chose to settle on the arid plains that separated the great forests and became lithe of limb and quick to catch their prey. Others settled by the many lakes or by the oceans and learned to harvest the bounty of the water.

Alas, there were some who settled in less ideal environments due to space and competition. Muggy swamps and bogs become home to those hardy enough to survive there, as well as mountain crags acting as homes for small groups who would sally forth in order to gather resources. All of these peoples appeared mostly the same, humanoid farm, albeit with minor physical adaptions to their locales. This is the way they were for thousands of years, all the while their tribes growing and adapting the land to their needs, villages growing and towns, and the tribes themselves spreading out to become nations.

This is the way it always had been, until people started to disappear from the more rural communities. They would be spirited away during the night with no clue as to who had taken them, except that their rooms were uncared for, and they obviously did not prepare for any kind of journey. Panic started to spread as it was noticed that everyone who went missing was female. It was not long after these events had begun to be noticed that the first of the Wild Peoples appeared - strange, insular communities comprised of people who were half-animal, who seemed to have a lifestyle so in favour with those who went to them, that they nearly always decided to stay. Some whisper that it is against their better will...

It is into this that you come. A young woman called Jezzi from one of the rural villages of the plains, Roaring Creek, in the region of Wild Heath. Like most from your village, you are of pale complexion with long black hair and lithe limbs that betray their strength. Your hips are shapely and womanly, and your bust is firm and of medium size. Life is by no means easy, but you are able to get by, working on the family farm, and your thin leather clothing protects you against the sun, while not trapping the day's heat against your skin.

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The mid-ear nights were getting hotter and stuffier than those of the past few days, and Jezzi had taken to sleeping on her simple linen bed without the thick, hide covers that provided ample warmth amid the freezing days of Year's End, and wearing very little other than garment designed to maintain her modesty, and cover very little else. Still, the thick cloying heat of the day just gone refused to shift in the still air of her room, causing her skin to be covered in a thin sheen of sweat as her body tried to cool off. Ordinarily, she would have opened her windows and let the night breeze rush through and make the nights more bearable, but this night was different to others.

The previous night, one of her neighbours went missing. A girl called Bella who worked as a farm hand on the same plot of land that she did. Bella had always been a bright and cheerful girl with reddish hair that she kept close cropped, and Jezzi couldn't think of any reason why she would run away. As such, her thoughts had turned to a different possibility - that she had been abducted.

The thought didn't sit well with her, and meant that she couldn't get to sleep this night. With an exasperated sigh, she gave up trying to sleep for now and sat up on the bed, wiping the light build-up of sweat from her shapely face.

What should Jezzi do next?

• Open the window to let fresh air in
• Get a drink and wait out the night
• Check on the stables